5 Reasons Why 2020 is a Break-Out Year for NVM Express

5 Reasons Why 2020 is a Break-Out Year for NVM Express

By Cameron Brett, NVM Express MWG Co-Chair, Kioxia

Digital transformation in data centers is taking a huge leap forward in 2020, thanks to NVMe™ technology. From cloud and enterprise applications to gaming to 360-degree immersive video projects for sporting events and much more, it’s no wonder so many industry experts are predicting the impact of NVMe applications.

In writing about NVMe-oF, Storage Swiss writer, George Crump relayed, “technology rarely has ‘a year…with that admission, 2020 will be the year for Non-Volatile Memory Express over Fabric (NVMe-oF).”

NVM SSDs will also be in the spotlight this year, according to Jeff Janukowicz, Research Vice President at IDC, “NVMe SSDs are the fastest growing drive with capacity shipments expected to increase by over 90% year over year in 2020,” said Janukowicz. “We will also see a 60% rise in shipments over the next 12 months in the enterprise space, as NVMe SSDs will account for over half of all enterprise SSDs.”

Leading off these great statements, we have collected the top reasons why NVMe technology is having a break-out year in 2020:

1. NVMe-oF Goes Mainstream with TCP Support
IP networks all over the world are now benefiting from the enablement of NVMe/TCP in the NVMe-oF 1.1 specification, as it significantly enables the usability of NVMe-oF with existing networks. According to Crump, “customers no longer need to upgrade network cards and switches, and will witness the performance gain over non-NVMe TCP implementations.” An end-to-end NVMe-oF architecture connection also lends to a low latency experience that rivals traditional direct-attached SSD storage models. More and more companies are rolling out NVMe/TCP solutions that will enable organizations to easily deploy NVMe-oF and the benefits of NVMe SSDs in a more efficient, shared environment.

2. Enterprise Data Centers Are Now Much More Efficient Thanks to NVMe-oF Architecture
Crump also touches on the integration of NVMe-oF technology in enterprise environments, as it helps them operate more efficiently. Enterprise storage deployments are now able to run at much lower levels of utilization than a comparable shared storage environment. The use of NVMe-oF technology removes the concern of high network latency associated with traditional SANs, while also introducing a more efficient utilization of a shared storage infrastructure.

3. NVMe Applications in 2020: Manufacturing, IoT and AI Take the StageStorage demand is growing due to the increasing amount of data generated by IoT, artificial intelligence (AI) and other big data applications. NVMe technology is greatly contributing to this industry swell through the facilitation of efficient, high capacity solutions. Each industry/application will benefit, but as in the case of manufacturing, companies will be able to “make more goods with greater yields and using less energy and raw materials,” according to Tom Coughlin of Forbes Magazine.

4. NVMe Specification Refactoring
Stay tuned in 2020 for information about upcoming refactored NVMe 2.0 specification. Changes included are new features, feature enhancements and consolidation of multiple specifications into one. Learn more in the NVM Express specifications presentation titled, “Mastering Today’s Architecture and Preparing for Tomorrow’s.”

5. 2020 NVM Express Events
Heading to storage and memory conferences and events this year? Make sure to check out the NVM Express events page. We will have a large presence at Flash Memory Summit 2020 on August 4-6, 2020 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. NVM Express will be sponsoring their usual session track, covering the latest innovations in NVMe, NVMe-oF and NVMe-MI™ technology.

From the viewpoint of industry experts, it is evident, that NVMe technology will have an incredible 2020. Follow NVM Express on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest news and check the NVM Express website for new developments.